Background and History of Organization

Kaufman County Senior Citizens Services, Inc. (KCSCSI) was organized by a Task Force set by the Kaufman County Improvement Council. The purpose was to form an organization to administer programs and services through a variety of Federal, State and local resources to support the services needed by Older Texans in Kaufman County. At the time, the Improvement Council felt very strongly that an independent organization needed to be formed to handle the variety of resources necessary to support services to the elderly of Kaufman County. This independent organization would also be capable of effective and efficient delivery of services to the elderly, thereby resulting in sound fiscal management of all available resources.

KCSCSI was chartered May 1, 1980 to provide a variety of services with the coordination and provision of those services to the residents of Kaufman County to be carried out very effectively.

The governing Board is made up of eleven (11) Board of Directors members with one (1) from Navarro County. In addition to serving on the eleven (11) member board as Board of Directors, the Kaufman and Navarro County citizens are involved daily in the delivery of meal service to the elderly.

The senior citizens are involved in the participation of the centers as site council members, which set policies in reference to programs and activities in the centers, two of which deliver 75,000 meals per year in our Meals on Wheels program.

This organization also receives extensive support from the cities and communities in Kaufman County by providing facilities for use as centers, paying some or all of the utility bills and providing staff for some of the centers.

Currently, services have been expanded to include congregate meals or senior centers in four (4) communities in the county, meals on wheels covering the entire counties of Kaufman and Navarro, meals on wheels for the handicapped in both counties, emergency aid assistance for the general public of Kaufman county, Alzheimer support groups, and an Ensure program providing nutritional supplements.

In 1988, KCSCSI became the public transportation provider for Kaufman County, since then KART has been recognized by the State Legislature as the Rural Transportation District for Kaufman County. In November of 2002 KART became an individual entity by qualifying as a political sub-division of Texas operating with its own Board of Directors.

Organizational Structure

The structure of KCSCSI is relatively simple--A Board of Directors composed of nine (9) local county residents. The Board of Directors amend the Bylaws if necessary, and elects additional members for the board. The Board of Directors are the approval board for all activities undertaken by the agency, including activities, decisions, fiscal and budgetary policies.

Staff

KCSCSI maintains a staff of approximately thirty-five (35) persons working at the central office and five remote centers and offices. This includes an Executive Director, two (2) departmental directors, six (6) site directors, and a professional, paraprofessional, administrative and technical staff.